JUNESPLOITATION/ARROW BOX SET RELEASE: Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits!: Thunderbolt (1995)
DAY 26: Jackie Chan! Rumble in the Bronx blew the doors wide open for Jackie Chan in America. So, naturally, the very next thing the multiplexes threw at us was 1995’s Thunderbolt (released in some regions as Dead Heat). New Line Cinema wanted to strike while the iron was hot. Still, instead of another neighborhood […]
JUNESPLOITATION/ARROW BOX SET RELEASE: Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits!: Rumble In the Bronx (1995)
DAY 25: Jackie Chan! When Rumble In the Bronx played U.S. theaters, it was like every nerd like me who had to hunt down bootlegs of Jackie movies and try to explain to our friends why his films blew away any Western action hero finally had a victory. Now, instead of having to beg people to […]
JUNESPLOITATION/ARROW BOX SET RELEASE: Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits!: Drunken Master II (1994)
DAY 25: Jackie Chan! It took America too long to get behind Jackie Chan. When this was released, Jackie Chan was already a global icon, but he decided to return to his roots in traditional, old-school kung fu for the first time since 1983’s Fearless Hyena Part II. He teamed up with the legendary director […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Delusion (1981)
DAY 24. Slashers! Now, if you’re like me, you spent the better part of the 80s and 90s digging through the bottom shelves of mom-and-pop video stores, looking for big, chunky VHS big-boxes with insane cover art. Back in ’84, you might have rented this one from Embassy Pictures under the name Delusion, or maybe […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Diamond Ninja Force (1988)
DAY 23: Exploitation Auteurs! Trying to summarize a Godfrey Ho film is like trying to hold water in your hands, but here goes: An ancient feud between the Black Ninja Clan and the Diamond Ninja Empire is reignited by the discovery of a long-lost tomb. Meanwhile, in what feels like a completely different movie, a […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Sugar Cookies (1973)
DAY 22. Revenge! The 1970s New York film scene was a magical, grimy sandbox. If you ever needed proof that the line between high art, avant-garde theater, and pure exploitation was completely non-existent back then, look no further than Theodore Gershuny’s Sugar Cookies (also known by the arguably sleazier title, Love Me My Way). Just […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Twilight Theater (1982)
DAY 21. Free Space! Aired on February 13, 1982, this 90-minute bizarro sketch comedy pilot was co-executive produced by Steve Martin. NBC was trying to figure out what to do to relieve the pressure on Saturday Night Live‘s grueling production schedule, so they preempted SNL for a week to give Steve’s brain-child a test drive. […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Moontrap (1989)
DAY 20. 80’s Sci-Fi! The sci-fi event of 1989! Never mind that The Abyss came out that year. Or even Dr. Alien, Cyborg, Dr. Caligari and Shocking Dark. If you miss the days when science fiction movies relied on practical effects, wild concepts and pure imagination rather than endless CGI, there is this movie. Coming from the creative minds of […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Street Wars (1991)
DAY 19. Black Filmmakers! To understand Street Wars, you have to understand the man behind the curtain: Jamaa Fanaka. He was part of the famous L.A. Rebellion at UCLA alongside guys like Charles Burnett and Julie Dash, but while they went high-art, Fanaka went straight for the exploit-o-meter. He gave us the Penitentiary trilogy and […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Redneck (1973)
DAY 18: Franco Nero! When you pair the steely gaze of Franco Nero with the unhinged, lip-smacking energy of Telly Savalas, you expect a certain level of Euro-crime carnage. Redneck, known in its native Italy as Senza ragione, delivers that in spades, though it’s a strange, disjointed beast that feels like two different movies glued […]
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